This Imaginative Game of Thrones Theory Explains How Jon Snow Will Discover the Truth About His Parents

Jon, upon retaking Winterfell, decides to go down into the crypts to visit Eddard's grave, but finds that Ned's bones haven't come to Winterfell yet. He instead passes by the future resting places of his siblings . . .

He stops for a moment, sad with the new knowledge that there is no life everlasting for him or his siblings. Then, remembering his nightmares [about the crypt] (or perhaps finding some clue in Ned's empty grave), he continues down to the lower levels of the crypt in the growing darkness.

His finds his way is blocked by rocks and rubble from the collapse. He considers going back, but something catches his eye beyond the obstruction. He begins pulling at stones, and sees another tomb, prepared and empty.

Clambering over the debris, he walks to the tomb and holds out the torch in the darkness, wiping away the dust from the slab. And this is what he reads.

• Jon Snow has dreams that bring him to the depths of Winterfell's crypt: "And then I find myself in front of the door to the crypts. It's black inside, and I can see the steps spiraling down. Somehow I know I have to go down there, but I don't want to. I'm afraid of what might be waiting for me," Jon describes in the first book. Additionally, the Redditor notes that "when Ned is killed, Bran and Rickon both dream of him in the crypts, sad, saying something about Jon."
• Parallels between Bael the Bard's tale and the R+L=J theory: The story of Bael the Bard comes up multiple times in the series. Bael, the king beyond the Wall far before Jon's time, infiltrated Winterfell disguised as a singer and wooed Lord Stark's daughter. He "stole her away" (much like Rhaegar Targaryen is accused of doing to Lyanna Stark) in the middle of the night, leaving a blue Winter rose (Lyanna's favorite flower) in her bed. Many months later, the daughter returned with a baby of her own — she had never left Winterfell, simply hidden in the crypt. That son, the bastard of Bael the Bard, went on to rule the North. Can you see the connection between this lore and the theory about Jon's parentage? And it all comes back to one place: the crypt of Winterfell.
• Foreshadowing from ancient Targaryen lore: Another story repeated in the series, points out the Redditor's theory, is that of Vermax the Targaryen dragon. Vermax supposedly laid eggs in the Winterfell crypt during a visit from Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, creating a theme of Targaryens/dragons being hidden in Winterfell's hall of the dead.
• Ned Stark could totally have prepared Jon's grave in secret: Because the lower level of the crypt is blocked off by rubble, none of the Stark children or visitors would stray into the closed-off parts . . . plus, Ned Stark could have commissioned a stonemason to design the tomb without anybody finding out. Tyrion mentions in season two that stonemasons typically can't read — "He was a well-read stonemason? Can't say I've ever met a literate stonemason!" — which means that the words inscribed on the tomb would reveal nothing to the tradesman who carved them.
• This theme would honor the fantasy tradition of Lancelot: The story of Lancelot (orphaned as a baby only to become one of Arthur's knights) is arguably one of the most famous in fantasy lore, time and again inspiring authors and filmmakers. "Sir Lancelot . . . conquers a keep called the Dolorous Gard where Queen Guinevere is being held. He renames it the Joyous Gard. In the graveyard is a tomb covered by a giant jeweled metal slab, engraved to indicate that only the man who conquers the keep will be able to lift it. He lifts the tomb's slab with ease, and beneath it is written 'Here will lie Lancelot of the Lake, the Son of King Ban.' He thus learns he is a prince inside a grave," the Redditor wrote. The similarities between Jon's storyline and Sir Lancelot's — including the variations of a "tower of joy" where a woman is being held hostage — could be a huge clue that this theory is accurate.